Qld councils send Mandarin message to Rudd

Eight councils facing amalgamation in western Queensland says they want the Labor leader Kevin Rudd to understand their plight - so they have written to him in Chinese.

A full page anti-amalgamation advertisement, which plays on Mr Rudd's fluent knowledge of Mandarin, has appeared in today's Courier Mail.

The Mayor of Aramac, Gary Peoples, says Mr Rudd should step in and stop the controversial State Government reforms, which will halve the number of Queensland councils next year.

He is hoping the new tactic will get their message through.

"We've used Mandarin in the ad because Mr Rudd hasn't listened to us in English... so we're hoping he will listen to us in Mandarin," he said.

"Our communities will not survive without our councils so we're asking Mr Rudd to show Queenslanders that he does care and work with Anna Bligh to rebuild bridges in the bush and save our outback communities."

Mr Peoples says he does not believe Mr Rudd when he says he can not stop the controversial State Government reforms.

"I can't understand their position... we've got a man here that wants to lead Australia at the executive level with the Labor Party... surely this man who wants to be the next prime minister of Australia has some pull over the state Labor premiers and people that are part of the Labor Party," he said.

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.